With pounding drums, beautifully crafted wares, and a colorful array of music and dance, the Mt. Hood Community College Native American club held their second annual powwow Saturday. The MHCC gymnasium was transformed into a brightly colored celebration of life, family values, multi-cultural group activities and multi-generational traditions.

A trek into the background history will help to gain a better understanding of the people and traditions involved in this event. Learning about the diversity of tribal nations and following it back centuries can give insight into the traditions and values of a proud and honorable people.

MHCC student Robert Van Pelt, president of the MHCC Native American club, Chako-Kumtux, explained why the term “Native American” is used instead of the more derogatory term “indian.”

“It dates back to the days of Columbus, through the years of the Old West, when natives were mistreated and suppressed, until the more recent days,” said Van Pelt. The diversity of nations and tribes is widespread and rich in culture. Migration scattered the many tribes over the centuries, and a richly traditional gathering called the powwow was established, according to Van Pelt.

More than 200 tribes from at least five different countries were represented, in a crowd estimated to be more than 700. Van Pelt organized the event “to bring together the tribes and nations of an extraordinary amount of native indigenous people.”

“This is a way of exposing the community to the different cultures, while giving the native tribes a place to come together in a healing element between nations and communities,” said Van Pelt. Natives from the United States, Mexico, Canada, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and others were part of a global gathering of dancing, drumming, singing, ceremonial rituals and food. Drummers from many tribes played in groups of five to eight on large drums, while chanting the songs for the dance.

The salmon and buffalo stew was a huge hit among attendees, as were the fry bread and other treats. Van Pelt was able to procure donations from many generous individuals, tribes and businesses in order for the entire celebration to be free to the public, including the generous barbeque. More than 200 pounds of salmon and 150 pounds of buffalo was baked and served to the hungry crowd, along with steamed rice and roasted corn.

A Navaho brother and sister team known only as Darius and Debra from Window Rock, Ariz., cooked the fry bread with a choice of toppings. No one went home with an empty stomach, according to the traditions of hospitality known to the tribal community.

>>>>> Grand Entry
After the warm up of drums, the Grand Entry began, involving all the tribes and nations in a line of dancing. They were led into place by the whipman, Ed Goodell, followed by American Indian army soldiers and tribal chiefs who carried flags as representatives of the community.

As the whipman pointed to each representative, they led a blessing, given to all, in their native tongues. An invocation and blessing was given by the grandson of one of the elders, as he took his place into the next generation of leadership.
As the chiefs and elders lined up at the end of the entryway, the many generations and tribes came by and shook hands to signify the “Coming Together with Understanding,” the main reason for these powwows.

>>>>> Aztec Dancers
As the dancing commenced, the first group out on the floor was an elaborately dressed new movement of Aztec tribe from Mexico and Guatemala, who turned the polished gym floor into an altar of worship. The performers danced in step,at a dizzying pace, while the leader and drummer beat on the drum and played the flute.

The colorful feathers and regalia looked almost like peacocks and pheasants at play, in a flurry of spinning and stomping around the flames of the sacrificial stone bowl, in which were burned gifts to the creator. Their steps were in non-stop unison for nearly an hour, with each dancer turning to the four directions of north, east, south and west in precision and synchronization, thanking the creator for his mercy and blessing.

Ranging from Mount Angel, Ore., to Mexico City, the Aztec dance group amazed the audience. The girls kneeling at the burning altar wept as the spirit of worship from the surrounding dancers became an emotional and powerful experience.

>>>>>>Sacred Rituals
Among the dances and sacred rituals came a group known as the Apache Crown Dancers, from the White Mountain Apache Tribe of San Carlos. They are a very private people, with much traditional worship and ritual dance which pertains to their beliefs of the strength and power they carry from lightning. Because of the sacredness of this particular dance, no cameras were allowed, nor speaking to the men and women in paint.

A blessed woman was assigned to assist the dancers as a caretaker, to attend to their needs. This included smoothing the young women’s hair as they stood at attention for the men who danced for them, while awaiting their turn to spin into line, in step with the Apache warrior. The young women lined up, and waited respectfully, hands to their sides, while the men danced across the “altar” floor, with their white curved cross-sticks, painted to represent lightning bolts from the sky.

“These sticks represent the energy and lightning bolts that give these warriors their strength,” said Carol Richardson, the representative and caretaker. “They go through a very specific dressing ritual of regalia, starting from the ground and feet upward, in order that the spirits and earth can cleanse and prepare them to ascend to the four mountains and four directions, to be empowered by the lightning and spirits that overtake them and give them their strength. The spinning into position in line is a way of showing honor,” said Richardson.

The warriors came out with black shrouds over their heads, which makes them appear sightless; yet they see well enough to perform an elaborate sequential step dance, while the women spin in to follow.

After a time, the men and women line up every other one, and the men weave in and out of the line of women.

“This weaving represents the balance that men and women bring to each other in this life, just as Eve was taken from Adam’s rib,” said Richardson. “The elaborate crowns they wear on their heads represent the mountains and lightning rods from which God gives them their strength, power, energy and spirit with the Earth.
“The Apache people believe that the crown dancers were sent by the Creator. They are mountain people wearing crowns representing sacred mountains.

The Apache people hold their traditions and sacred rituals very secret and private, and to be allowed to participate in this was a very special privilege. Their performance is a celebration of the beauty of life,” said Richardson.

>>>>>>> Profiles in Honor
An unassuming warrior under a dark headdress of ermine, feathers and fur, with a black painted mask, spoke proudly of his traditions and family. His name is Vince Wannasay, but his given native name is Elk Trot Seven Days. Wannasay is a Cayuse native of the Umatilla Confederation, from the Cowlitz Band in Yakima and Walla Walla. He is a leader in the Native American Youth Association, an administrator for Native American Rehabilitation Association (NARA), and has lived in the Portland area for 38 years.

Wannasay is also the cousin of Robert Van Pelt, and was given the headdress by Van Pelt more than 30 years ago. With a smirk of lighthearted humor, Wannasay fessed up that “because Robert is the last man in the family, we nicknamed him Caboose.” When asked how many of the 200 tribes in the area were in attendance, Wannasay simply stated with a smile, “All of them.”

Van Pelt, of the Too Too Tunee tribal group, which means “person of the people,” is also a full-time student at MHCC, studying for his associate of arts degree, and looking forward to a future in the health services industry. Van Pelt is a father and calls his daughter his inspiration. He has been involved in American Indian traditions for more than 30 years and has been a student since 2003. He is heading up Chako-Kumtux for the purpose of bringing communities together, and exposing the richness of Native American cultures and traditions.

“We are trying to bring a human interaction in building communication and trust among the people,” said Van Pelt. Chako-Kumtux means “the becoming to understanding.”

>>>>>>>> Profiles in Courage
Being a part of this sacred tradition lends itself to the learning experience of intercultural dimensions, built on a very simple and straightforward premise.
The Native American foundation is built on family values, community, honor and respect for each other, in a way that many people could learn from. The heritage of family is carried through elders and passed to their children. They honored their children by bringing them out to dance with the couples and elders.

Generations lined up and shook hands with various tribes, in the round dance, as a way to pass on the legacy and show “the unity of brotherhood.”

In one of the community dances, the women who had survived cancer carried out a pink blanket to the heart of the “altar” floor. The audience was asked to participate, inviting any other survivors to come out to dance, while people threw money into the blanket for a cancer organization. It was a time of tears for those who passed on, and a time of joy for those who survived.

Another native veteran was a woman representing the NARA project. NARA is the main support in the Northwest for any kind of help that Native Americans might need. Some examples are the drug, alcohol, incarceration and family intervention that NARA brings to American Indians in the local metropolitan area. Melinda Maiterth is the Legacy Tobacco Coordinator, and an ally against the use of drugs, and the misuse of tobacco and alcohol.

“We provide a place for rehab, and the support needed to help stay clean and sober, while making a fresh start,” said Maiterth.